


Hayloft

by clizziem



Series: Don't Smile at Me [15]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Azula (Avatar), katara is the best, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28661334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clizziem/pseuds/clizziem
Summary: Katara didn’t notice the bandages over Zuko’s face until he walked into mixed-year homeroom. She stops talking to Jiang for a second and watches as his good eye goes wide with...something...when everyone turns and stares at him. For a second, it looks like he might cry. Then he scowls and basically stomps to a desk in the back. She follows him with her eyes and then he pulls his hood over his head. There are more of those weird bruises on his wrists and then he folds his arm on the desk and drops his head. Conversations start up again as the bell begins to ring. Mrs. Hennessy comes in and places a stack of textbooks on her desk.“Good morning, everyone,” she says. Then she does a double-take. “Zuko! Welcome back.”Snippets of Katara's suspicions
Relationships: Katara & Worrying, Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Don't Smile at Me [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079291
Comments: 12
Kudos: 237





	Hayloft

**Author's Note:**

> I just read Katara and the Pirate's Silver and came up with this nonsense. It's a little angsty so use caution if you need to. TW for references to abuse.  
> Enjoy!

Katara didn’t notice the bandages over Zuko’s face until he walked into mixed-year homeroom. She stops talking to Jiang for a second and watches as his good eye goes wide with...something...when everyone turns and stares at him. For a second, it looks like he might cry. Then he scowls and basically stomps to a desk in the back. She follows him with her eyes and then he pulls his hood over his head. There are more of those weird bruises on his wrists and then he folds his arm on the desk and drops his head. Conversations start up again as the bell begins to ring. Mrs. Hennessy comes in and places a stack of textbooks on her desk.

“Good morning, everyone,” she says. Then she does a double-take. “Zuko! Welcome back.”

Zuko lifts his head and doesn’t say anything.

Jiang nudges Katara and passes her a note.  _ What do you think happened? _

Mrs. Hennessy starts talking about what’s planned for the week and Katara takes out her purple glitter pen.  _ Maybe some kind of fire? _

“Anyone have any questions about the spirit week rally?” Mrs. Hennessy asks.

“Do we have to go to it?” Shane asks. A couple of people snicker and Katara sees Zuko put his head back down.

“Yes, Shane, it’s required and Zuko can you keep your head up?” Mrs. Hennessy asks.

Zuko shakes his head and Katara thinks she hears him whimper. He’s always been a tired kid. He never seems to have a ton of energy but this feels different.

This feels more like exhaustion. Of every kind.

“Zuko, I know it’s early and you have an injury but it’s disrespectful. Please lift your head up.”

Zuko moans a “no” and buries his head deeper into his arms. Katara and Jiang exchange a sideways glance. Mrs. Hennessy lowers her folder and takes a couple of steps towards his desk.

“Zuko. Lift your head up now.” She says sternly.

“I said no!” Zuko lifts his head and shouts. Katara jumps in her seat but something still feels wrong. His anger fades instantly and suddenly he looks terrified.

Almost like he’s not sure where he is.

“Office, Mr. Hayashi. Now!” Mrs. Hennessy demands. Zuko wordlessly grabs his backpack and leaves the classroom. Katara makes eye contact with him for a fleeting moment and something churns in her stomach

Maybe it’s just his injury.

But he looks like he’s in pain.

“Beneath the Earth’s mantle, we have the outer core which is mostly made of iron. Does anyone want to guess what-” Mr. Townsend stops lecturing for a second when Zuko shuffles into the classroom and takes his assigned seat next to Katara. “Where are you coming from, Zuko?” He asks with a frown.

“Office,” Zuko says. Mr. Townsend sighs and hands him a packet that he handed out at the beginning of class.

“As I was saying,” Mr. Townsend continues with a glare at Zuko. Townsend has kind of had it out for him since the beginning of the year. Zuko’s supposed to be in the seventh-grade science and math level. But he got bumped down after the first month. Katara thinks Townsend thinks Zuko’s stupid. “Does anyone want to guess what other element the outer core is made of?”

Katara taps Zuko’s sleeve. He flinches a little bit but turns to her. She pushes her packet towards him with the first ten minutes of notes on it. Zuko takes his pencil out and starts copying her notes. He doesn’t say anything and Katara doesn’t make him say thank you. She’s too busy staring at the small, circular bruises on his wrists.

They’re so dark.

She can’t figure out how he might have gotten them.

Katara does remember that when she and Sokka were younger, they used to fight a lot and they’d somehow wind up with weird bruises.

Zuko does have a younger sister.

Katara’s stomach stops churning.

That must be it. Sibling fight bruises. That’s all.

Katara kicks a pencil out of her way on the disgusting brown and red carpet in her high school’s hallway. She’s supposed to be in algebra but she made her way to the classroom and then couldn’t go through with it.

So she’s wandering. The halls are quiet and all the classroom doors are closed. There’s a hum from the fluorescent lights above her but other than that it’s silent. She walks past a bathroom and hears something. Someone’s saying something that isn’t in English. She doesn’t know the language but she steps inside.

Both Hayashi’s are standing by the sinks. There’s a bottle of foundation on the counter and Azula is holding a beauty blender. She says something in whatever language she’s using and Katara hears Zuko’s voice grumble something back. Azula glares at her brother for a second and says something that sounds like scolding. Whatever Zuko says back is strained and Azula suddenly softens. She reaches up and starts blotting the foundation on her brother’s face. Katara frowns and peeks around the corner. She gets a better look at the mirror and she has to bite her tongue to avoid gasping.

Zuko’s right brow and temple are covered in purple bruises. There are small ones closer to his ear and on the side of his neck.

Zuko whines and Azula murmurs something. Her eyes are tearing up and it looks like she’s trying to be gentle.

Katara watches for a little while as Azula masks the bruises on Zuko’s head. It looks painful. Azula keeps whispering the same tiny phrase over and over. Eventually, Katara figures out how to say it.

_ Moshiwakearimasen _

Azula finally puts the foundation down and then gives Zuko a red beanie. She says something else and starts putting the makeup in her backpack. Katara takes another peek and sees that Zuko’s bruises are now almost invisible. Katara rushes out of the bathroom before the siblings get a chance to see her and she heads down a staircase and pulls out her phone. She opens Google Translate and clicks on the microphone and says the word she heard Azula say as best she can.

Somehow, the phone understands her.

It’s Japanese.

For ‘I’m sorry.’

Katara feels sick.

There’s a word in the back of Katara’s head and she refuses to listen to it. She doesn’t want this quiet, awkward boy to have to be associated with that word.

“It’s fine!” Zuko snaps at Sokka. Katara lifts her head up from the novel she’s reading for English and watches his phone land face down on the table. He apologizes quietly and Sokka redirects the conversation to the project.

But Zuko’s mood is ruined.

He doesn’t say much beyond one to three-word answers to anything Sokka says. Katara glances and Zuko’s wrists again. Every year she’s known him, his wrists have been black, blue, or purple. She also hasn’t missed the bruises on his hairline and the way he’s favoring his right arm.

The word she’s had in her head since last year is pounding in her head and it’s getting harder to ignore it.

And she knows who’s responsible if she’s right.

His mom is gone.

His sister loves him too much.

There’s only one other person in his family.

The same person who sent him a message just now.

‘Dad’

An hour later, a black car pulls up and she can see a man in the slightly tinted window. She watches the man type something on a cellphone and then hears Zuko say he has to go home. That his father is here. Sokka walks him to their front door and Katara looks up from the window seat.

“Bye, Zuko,” she says. Zuko nods a little bit but Katara can see how much of his energy is going into not bursting into tears. She watches him walk to the black car and slide into the passenger’s seat. The windows are a little tinted, but she can see a sudden movement from the driver’s side and a jerking flinch-like motion from the passenger’s side. Katara tears her eyes away and stares at her book in terror.

She really hopes she didn’t just see a grown man hit his child.

But in the back of her mind, where that one word lives, she knows she did.

Katara watches Zuko dart off towards the parking lot and she frowns.

“Did he seem...stressed to any of you?” Katara asks. “Something about ‘I have to walk’ feels weird.”

Suki finishes typing something on her phone and shrugs. “I mean, yeah, that was weird. But he did say he has to be home by six.”

“Probably just has to be home for dinner or something,” Aang adds from a tree branch.

“It’s nothing, Katara, don’t worry about it,” Sokka says.

“Are  _ you  _ all blind?” Toph suddenly asks. “He was clearly scared.”

“Scared?” Aang asks. “Of what?”

Toph murmurs that she doesn’t know but Katara looks at Suki and they exchange a knowing glance.

Katara doesn’t think Suki knows, but she at least knows Katara knows.

He showed up limping. Katara saw him grip his abdomen a couple of times. And she saw the bruises on his wrists and on his fingers.

He’d been hurt before he got here.

And Katara figures that he’s going to get hurt when he gets home.

She stares up at her bedroom ceiling with her thumb hovering over the call button on her phone with the CPS number put in up above.

Why is she nervous? She knows she’s right.

She knows that Zuko’s not safe at his father’s house.

Which means Azula probably isn’t either.

So why is she hesitating?

What if she’s wrong? Well, she knows she isn’t. It doesn’t feel like her place. And what if nothing changes? Maybe she needs more evidence.

She turns her phone off and sets it on her bedside table. She faces away from the window and tries not to feel guilty.

Katara watches Zuko hang with loose limbs in Sokka’s arms while Azula scolds him. She looks at the ankle he’s not able to stand on, the bruises painting his jaw with blues and purples, his scarred ear, and those goddamn bruises on his wrists.

She was right. The whole time she was right. And she did nothing.

This boy looks half-dead and she could have stopped it. She could have saved him.

And she’d turned her back on him.

He’s in the backseat and Aang greets him as cheerfully as ever and she can barely find any words to say to him.

She’s basically betrayed him.

What is she supposed to say?

**Author's Note:**

> I only have one or two more parts planned so this may be ending soon but honestly, I have so much time on my hands this will probably keep growing.


End file.
